A course In Modern English Lexicology

§ 7. Syntactic Structure
(Formula) and Pattern sion the term s y n t a c t i c (or s y n -
of Word-Groups t
a g m a t i c )
s t r u c t u r e
requires
some clarification. We know that word-groups may be generally described through the pattern of arrangement of the constituent members. The term s y n t a c t i c s t r u c t u r e (formula) properly speaking implies the description of the order and arrangement of member-words as parts of speech. We may, for instance, describe the word-group as made up of an Adjective and a Noun (clever man, red flower, etc.), a Verb — a Noun (take books, build houses, etc.), or a Noun, a Preposition and a Noun (a touch of colour, a matter of importance, etc.). The syntactic structure (formula) of the nominal groups clever man and red flower may be represented as A + N, that of the verbal groups take books and build houses as V + N, and so on.
These formulas can be used to describe all the possible structures of English word-groups. We can say, e.g., that the verbal groups comprise the following structural formulas: V+N (to build houses), V+prp+N (to rely on somebody), V+N+prp+N (to hold something against somebody), V+N+V(inf.) (to make somebody work), V+ V(inf.) (to get to know), and so on.
The structure of word-groups may be also described in relation to the head-word, e.g. the structure of the same verbal groups (to build houses, to rely on somebody) is represented as to build + N, to rely + on + N. In this case it is usual to speak of t h e p a t t e r n s of word-groups but not of formulas. The term p a t t e r n implies that we are speaking of the structure of the word-group in which a given word is used as its head.
The interdependence of the pattern and meaning of head-words can be easily perceived by comparing word-groups of different patterns in which the same head-word is used. For example, in verbal groups the head-70
word mean is semantically different in the patterns mean+iV (mean something) and mean + V(inf.) (mean to do something). Three patterns with the verb get as the head-word represent three different meanings of this verb, e.g. get+ N (get a letter, information, money, etc.), get+ +to +N (get to Moscow, to the Institute, etc.), get+N+V(inf.) (get somebody to come, to do the work, etc.). This is also true of adjectival word-groups, e.g.
clever+ N (clever man) and clever+at+ N (clever at arithmetic), keen+ N
(keen sight, hearing), keen+on +N (keen on sports, tennis). Notional member-words in such patterns are habitually represented in conventional symbols whereas prepositions and other form-words are given in their usual graphic form. This is accounted for by the fact that individual form-words may modify or change the meaning of the word with which it is combined, as in, e.g., anxious+for+ N (anxious for news), anxious+about+ N (anxious about his health). Broadly speaking we may conclude that as a rule the difference in the meaning of the head-word is conditioned by a difference in the pattern of the word-group in which this word is used.
If the structure of word-groups is different,